Beautiful me?

Shitu Rajbhandari

FROM ISSUE # 147 (March 2008) | IN THIS ISSUE
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Real women have curves, reads an advertisement for Dove products. An ad campaign that created a huge buzz in the West when it was launched a few years ago, it was a slap in the face for all those who preached the idea of slim and thin as beautiful. The campaign touched a raw nerve and addressed massive body image issues ladies around the world were undergoing.

Body image is a term used to denote our perception of our own body which in many cases can be drastically different from what it actually appears to others. Extreme body image issues are often a starting point for many psychological disorders such as depression and eating disorders. A recent study conducted by the School of Psychology in Australia revealed that 44% of women were not happy with their body and wished to alter it. Though not as extreme as the ladies, men don't remain unaffected by this syndrome.

And like the rest of the world, Nepal is possessed with looking a certain way and to some degree is affected by the 'size zero' obsession. Though  an average Nepali girl is naturally slender with a height of 5'5", young ladies still put themselves under constant scrutiny. Big, small, thin or broad, there is always someone who is better and prettier and living in a culture where the size of your body is the opening line in conversations; it just adds fuel to the fire.

"I don't like visiting my relatives because they are constantly commenting on the amount I eat," says Sapna Agrawal, who weighs 45 kilograms and stands 5'4", and thinks she would be perfect if she was 5 kilograms lighter. It is a different story for Honey Shrestha – quite happy with the way her body is, she scorns at the thought of her face. She thinks her jaws are too broad. "I've tried everything from hairstyles to makeup tricks but am not satisfied so I'm coaxing my parents to let me have jaw surgery just like Preity Zinta did," says the 19-year old. Unhappy with her 'thunder thighs' is Sangita Lamsal, who stopped wearing jeans eleven months back. "They are just too big," she says poking them with her index finger. However her friend, Aruna Bajracharya, confesses to desiring legs like Sangita's. Going to extreme measures of dieting, Sangita tells of passing out two months back because of it.

There are plenty of cases like these, from some as young as a five-year-old not drinking a drop of water all day long because her friends said it was fattening. Body image issues are yet to be seen as a big problem here, but with constant exposure to the make-believe world, it might not be long before we have our share of youngsters with massive psychological and self-esteem problems.  

Remember cover girls are airbrushed and so are movie stars, so the next time you wish you looked like them, stop and remember what Baz Luhrmann said: Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.